Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. —Psalm 77:13-14
Our Fighter Verse this week is found in a psalm of lament where the psalmist is crying to God in his time of trouble. We aren’t told what the nature of his trouble is, but we do see that he is so troubled that he refuses to be comforted (v. 2) and cannot speak (v. 4). Clearly, he is under great duress!
We would do well, then, to see how he works through his sadness. Asking himself if the Lord will spurn him forever, the psalmist begins to meditate upon God and His amazing works (v. 12) as a means of turning his sadness into hope and his sorrow into joy.
Acknowledging God’s perfect holiness, the psalmist asks if there is a god like our God (v. 13). Not needing to answer that question, he begins to describe God as one who works wonders, who has made His might known among the peoples (v. 14). For the balance of the chapter, then, he recounts what God has faithfully done in the past for His people.
Today, in our times of sadness and despair, in order to renew our hope in God, we would do well to look back at what God has done. Unlike the psalmist, we have the single greatest event in all of redemptive history that we can look back upon—the cross! God’s might was most manifest in the power of Jesus Christ and His atoning death and resurrection. Jesus completed the culminating work in all of redemptive history and we have been given the privilege of living in a time when we can look back on that has already been done.
Therefore, like the psalmist before us, may we look to what our wonder-working God has done through Christ in saving a people for His glory and for their joy. May our hope and confidence in God be like that of Abraham, whose faith grew strong as he was convinced that God was able to do what He had promised (Romans 4:21).
It is instructive to note that at the end of this psalm of lament there is no resolution. For those who are followers of Jesus Christ, we do know what the ultimate resolution will be. Regardless of the plight that God may have ordained for us while on earth, we know that one day we will all be in the presence of the fullness of joy where there are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). Until that day comes, may we all continue to look back upon the mighty and wonderful works of our holy God!
For Reflection
How do you think meditating on God having lead His people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron (v. 20) comforted the psalmist?
How does meditating on what God has done in the past serve to comfort us for the future?
Are you experiencing sadness or lack of hope that meditating on God’s faithful works can help with?
What works of God from the past most encourage you?